Jefferies Remains a Hold on Energizer Holdings Inc

In a report released today, Kevin Grundy from Jefferies maintained a Hold rating on Energizer Holdings Inc (NYSE: ENR), with a price target of $62. The company’s shares closed yesterday at $56.39.

Grundy wrote:

“ENR delivered a mixed quality 2Q EPS beat ($0.45 vs. Street $0.42) on in line organic sales growth, weaker GM %, and better SG&A resulting in a 5.5% OI beat vs. the Street. FY18 EPS guidance of $3.30-$3.40 (vs. Street $3.38) was maintained with GM % guide (unsurprisingly) revised down, offset by a more favorable FX impact on OI. We expect a relatively muted stock reaction with the SPB battery deal the biggest driver of the stock over the NTM. 2Q18 EPS beats on in-line org sales and better SG&A in a tough earnings season for HPC: ENR’s 2Q sales of $374M were in-line with Street est. on +1.8% organic sales growth (also in-line with Street/JEF), partially owed to pricing and portfolio optimization initiatives. GM % was weak (-180 bps YoY) compared to Street (45.0% vs. 45.5%), resulting in a ~-1% gross profit miss, though was offset by lower total SG&A % (31.2% vs. Street 32.4%), which resulted in better than expected OM % in the qtr (13.8% vs. 13.1%) and a +5.5% OI beat. Despite a $0.01 drag from a higher tax rate vs. consensus, ENR’s 2Q EPS of $0.45 exceeded Street est. of $0.42, though came in a penny below JEF est. of $0.46. Americas organic sales were better vs. expectations: Americas performance was solid as organic sales growth of +2.9% compared favorably to Street/JEF +2.0%. International results were softer at +0.2% organic growth vs. Street/JEF estimates in the +1.5-2% range. OM % in Americas fell -285 bps YoY to 24.9% (vs. JEF 26.4%) and International margins declined -100 bps YoY to 22.7% (vs. JEF 21.3%).”

According to TipRanks.com, Grundy is a 4-star analyst with an average return of 7.6% and a 60.2% success rate. Grundy covers the Consumer Goods sector, focusing on stocks such as Coca-Cola European Partners, Edgewell Personal Care, and Monster Beverage Corp.

Energizer Holdings Inc has an analyst consensus of Hold, with a price target consensus of $62.

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Energizer Holdings Inc’s market cap is currently $3.37B and has a P/E ratio of 21.04. The company has a book value ratio of 99.8725.

Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 18 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock.

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Energizer Holdings, Inc. manufacturers and markets batteries and lighting products. The company’s products include household batteries, specialty batteries, and portable lighting. Energizer Holdings is headquartered in St. Louis, MO.